Anyone who’s grown up with American pop culture knows the cliche: college students feed themselves on cup ramen and coffee, slowly developing scurvy and arteriosclerosis. However, bad-for-you food has come a long way since the days that sitcom comedy writers were in school, and the market for easy-to-make food has improved. With that in mind, I present four cheap, easy options for feeding yourself without leaving your dorm room, because dining is best when you don’t have to put on pants:

Instant Oatmeal: Cheap packets of instant oatmeal can be prepared with nothing more than hot water from an electric kettle. They’re nutritious (by instant food standards), low-calorie, and sweet–they make for the perfect in-dorm breakfast during the winter. A six-pack of the generic brand will run you about $3 and will keep you fed for a week.

Annie’s Instant Mac and Cheese: I’m giving a shout out to Annie’s brand pasta (the one with the bunny on it) because it happens to be organic and, unlike the blue box competitors, the ingredients list has four things on it. The company sells boxes of five individually packaged meals, and they can again be prepared with just an electric kettle to heat water for the noodles. Though it’s probably chock full enough of sodium to kill a small horse, instant mac and cheese allows for vegetarians (and those who don’t want their noodles deep-friend) to join in on the dietary fun in a way ramen does not. Read the rest of this entry »